Recipe: Summer Pasta with Kale and Feta

Oh, how I love kale! I was happy to be able to feature it in a pasta sauce this week. Ingredients 1 tablespoon olive oil 1 large onion 1 small eggplant, diced (about 1/2 pound) 1 small sweet pepper, diced small bunch lacinato kale, stems removed and cut into strips 1/2 pound green beans, cut into bite-size pieces 1/4 cup … Read more

Recipe: Zucchini-Berry Muffins (paleo, gluten-free)

Dilemma of the day: Amazon has the 6-inch HD fire on sale for $69 today. Do I buy it? I have a first generation Kindle Fire that’s pretty much only good for reading e-books and watching Netflix now. Browsing the web is impossible. But I’m also annoyed that Amazon doesn’t offer any support for the first-generation Fire anymore, so going … Read more

Recipe in a Flash: Red Berry Sorbet (vegan)

It is so freaking hot here. Is that how all my blog posts start lately? Until this heat wave passes, I will be living on blender ice cream – which isn’t a terrible diet since it’s fruit, fruit, more fruit, and a hint of stevia. And maybe a smidgen of vegetables thrown in. I snuck some tomatoes into this sorbet. You don’t have … Read more

Sewing a sixteen-point star

16-point lone star quilt piecing

As I shared last week, my current piecing obsession is eight-pointed stars. I’ve gotten better at matching up all the points in the center, so of course I immediately decided to make things challenging again by turning one of my eight-point stars into a sixteen-point star. Usually, you would finish off an eight-point star by sewing triangles and squares into the … Read more

Found in the trash: Furniture, free money, and fuel

archer farms vanilla creme brulee K-cups and toaster

Dekalb and I went downtown again to harvest ‘garbage‘ today – one of our favorite ways to save money and recycle at the same time. Here’s the first spot we hit: A lot of this furniture was in good condition even after being thrown into a dumpster, but neither of us needed any so we left it there. Both of … Read more

Recipe in a Flash: Fruit Crisp Frozen Yogurt

OK, so there’s not actually any crisp topping in this recipe. But the stone fruits and cinnamon make it taste like a frozen version of that favorite summer dessert. If you’d like some crunch, simply sprinkle it with chopped walnuts. Ingredients 1 cup frozen peach pieces ½ cup frozen pitted cherries ½ cup frozen pear pieces or frozen cubes of pear sauce ¼ … Read more

Upcycling 101: The Annual Garbage Gleaning

Lilo checks out the pizza oven

It’s that time of year again, when consumer goods grow on the curb and around dumpsters as if by magic, all sitting there just ripe for the picking. In other words: the leases downtown are almost up, university students suddenly realize they have no desire to move all their crap with them, and they end up throwing perfectly good stuff out as trash: … Read more

Recipe: Double-Chocolate Zucchini Muffins (gluten-free, vegan)

Chocolate zucchini muffins (vegan & gluten-free)

  We still have a glut of zucchinis. By the end of the summer, I’ll have figured out a dozen variations on zucchini muffins. Heck, maybe I’ll even try putting summer squash in cookies. These muffins are moist, fudgy and extremely chocolatey. The lack of gluten makes them a little more delicate than a grain-based muffin. Enjoy! Supplies measuring cups … Read more